M&As can be a major disruption for engineering orgs… so how can eng leaders strategically approach deal structuring in a way that benefits instead of distracts? Melody Hildebrandt (EVP Eng / CISO @ Fox Corporation & COO @ Blockchain Creative Labs) shares her experience representing the tech org during the biggest deal in entertainment history, what she learned negotiating on behalf of the tech org, and how they were able to use the event to accelerate innovation and productivity. ABOUT MELODY HI...
Feb 15, 2022•52 min
The quest to “find flow” as an eng leader can be elusive! Rob Zuber (CTO @ CircleCI) shares about his personal quest to find flow, refining/refocusing responsibilities as CTO, and why he brought on an SVPE to support. Plus some of the personal discovery frameworks & executive-level delegation practices that may aid your own quest to find flow as an engineering leader. ABOUT ROB ZUBER Rob Zuber is a 20-year veteran of software startups; a three-time founder, and five-time CTO. Since joining Circl...
Feb 08, 2022•45 min
This is the first episode of our new series “ Engineering Founders ” featuring software pioneer Anna Patterson (Founder & Managing Partner @ Gradient Ventures) who shares with us emerging trends & opportunities in AI/ML! We cover how to spot emerging trends, typical mistakes AI/ML companies & founders make, how product-market fit/scaling is different vs. traditional software companies AND how to test and validate ideas in the early stages. Plus long-time listener Theo Gervet (ML Lead @ Relyance ...
Feb 01, 2022•42 min
What lessons can you learn from the strange and unfamiliar world of the sales team? Maulie Dass (Global Lead @ Cisco Innovation Labs) has experienced both worlds and joins to share what she’s learned! We cover questions to help you get to the root issues of your customer, design thinking strategies to generate customer empathy in your teams, how to balance product vision vs. feature requests from sales & more! ABOUT MAULIE DASS Maulie Dass ( @mauliedass ) is the Global Lead for Cisco's Innovatio...
Jan 25, 2022•44 min
Lewis Tuff (VP of Engineering @ Blockchain.com) joins us to share his experience on building a career in the cryptocurrency space! We cover his transition from traditional finance/tech to crypto, how to shift your mindset from centralized to decentralized, qualities that lead to success, tactics to help you gain exposure and experience, AND why it’s not too late to start your career in crypto! ABOUT LEWIS TUFF Lewis ( @tuffleuk ) is the Vice President of Engineering at Blockchain.com where he is...
Jan 18, 2022•50 min
Jeremy King (SVP of Engineering @ Pinterest) discusses some of the challenges, principles & frameworks behind building inclusive products. We also cover filtering decisions through your company mission, investing in rest and emerging challenges around creating serendipity with ideas, onboarding, retaining talent and the hard logistics of workplace flexibility. ABOUT JEREMY KING Jeremy King is Senior Vice President of Engineering at Pinterest, where he leads the company’s technical direction and ...
Jan 11, 2022•45 min
This conversation is about BURNOUT! You’ll hear holistic perspectives to help you identify the causes, conditions, & early indicators of burnout. Plus organizational & individual practices to address & become resilient to burnout with Sabry Tozin (VPE @ LinkedIn), Lori Allen (VP HR @ LinkedIn), & Erica Lockheimer (VPE, LinkedIn Talent Solutions, LinkedIn Learning & Glint @ LinkedIn). About Erica Lockheimer Erica Lockheimer is VP of Engineering, Talent Solutions, Learning, and Glint @ LinkedIn. D...
Jan 04, 2022•48 min
Our 2022 season starts next week on Tues 1/4! Check out this trailer for a preview of our first few guests covering topics like burnout, building inclusive products, and making the career transition into crypto! Looking for other ways to get involved with ELC? Check out all of our upcoming events, peer groups, and other programs at https://sfelc.com/ !
Dec 28, 2021•3 min
Sri Viswanath (CTO @ Atlassian ) shares Atlassian’s approach to building autonomous teams, the story behind Project Pascal & how Atlassian built their engineering career ladder! You’ll learn Sri’s 3 key areas to creating autonomy (principles, priorities & process), creating transparency at scale, and common & counter-intuitive process changes. Plus the key elements to build/launch a successful engineering career growth plan! ABOUT SRI VISWANATH Sri is the chief technology officer (CTO) at Atlass...
Oct 12, 2021•53 min
Li Fan (CTO @ Circle ) shares about the power of mentoring and the impact of paying it forward! We cover Li’s career journey, the mentors that have inspired and shaped her leadership, and how Li’s passed along those lessons to the people she’s mentored. Through Li’s stories, we uncover the long-term impact and ripple effect when you pay it forward. ABOUT LI FAN Li Fan is CTO at Circle, a global fintech firm enabling business to harness the power of digital currencies and public blockchains (Circ...
Oct 05, 2021•47 min
Maia Brenner (AI Specialist & Head of Business Development @ Tryolabs) shares the fundamentals to begin your company’s AI/ML journey! We cover the most common challenges & pitfalls eng leaders face when investing in AI, how to understand feasibility/impact & ROI of different AI/ML initiatives, how to build your AI roadmap, how to break down massive AI/ML projects into small experiments, and how to accelerate different phases of your AI/ML strategy with partners like Tryolabs. ABOUT MAIA BRENNER ...
Oct 05, 2021•39 min
Richard Wong (SVP of Engineering @ Coursera) shares how the dilemma of speed & quality evolves as a company scales. We cover how to balance building new features & fixing quality issues, internal & external signals to help you determine your priorities, & how to gain alignment. Plus how to avoid over-engineering! ABOUT RICHARD WONG Richard oversees Coursera's infrastructure and product development. Prior to joining Coursera, Richard held various engineering leadership roles at the early days of ...
Sep 28, 2021•59 min
Juni scaled 2x-3x week-over-week in the 1st month of Covid-19 restrictions. Vivian Shen (Co-Founder & CEO @ Juni Learning) shares why they had to massively shift priorities from growth to internal tooling/operations & how they gained buy-in from their engineering teams throughout the process. Plus you’ll hear about their pitch process to surface innovative ideas, and how the “engineering pod” team structure increases ownership, creativity & directly connects engineering to user impact! ABOUT VIV...
Sep 21, 2021•48 min
Brad Henrickson (Leadership Coach, Former CTO @ Scoop Technologies) shares how to reclaim ownership of your time by using an energy/calendar audit! You’ll learn the mechanics of how to conduct an energy audit and how to transform energy-draining moments engineering leaders commonly encounter, into energy- giving moments. Plus how to apply this at scale to amplify energy AND increase ownership throughout your entire org! ABOUT BRAD HENRICKSON, LEADERSHIP COACH, FORMER CTO @ SCOOP TECHNOLOGIES Bra...
Sep 14, 2021•49 min
Welcome to our community’s FIRST DEBATE! Farhan Thawar (VPE @ Shopify) & Jerry Krikheli (Sr. Director of Engineering @ Facebook) hash out which org structure should rule them all… Should you go flat? Or should you become a hierarchy? You’ll hear how each structure impacts culture, innovation, and velocity! FARHAN THAWAR, VP OF ENGINEERING @ SHOPIFY Farhan Thawar is currently VP, Engineering at Shopify via the acquisition of Helpful.com where he was co-founder and CTO. Previously he was the CTO, ...
Sep 07, 2021•33 min
You've found the mythical product-market fit & are scaling fast... now what?! Bill Coughran (Partner @ Sequoia Capital; Former SVP Engineering @ Google) & David Singleton (CTO @ Stripe) cover common mistakes scaling engineering orgs make, signals to help you identify & develop good managers internally AND find great hires externally. Plus how to balance short & long term demands while scaling & more! DAVID SINGLETON, CTO @ STRIPE David joined Stripe from Google, where he was VPE, leading the And...
Aug 31, 2021•31 min
Marianna Tessel (CTO @ Intuit) & Aileen Lee (Founder/Managing Partner @ Cowboy Ventures) cover how to navigate the build vs. buy decision! They share the frameworks they use to make a “buy” decision, how they assess engineering talent during acquisitions, how they decide between vendor software vs. open-source vs. building yourself. Plus the leadership skills that help Marianna lead a 5,000+ person team! MARIANNA TESSEL, CTO @ INTUIT Marianna oversees Intuit’s technology strategy and leads all o...
Aug 24, 2021•28 min
Guillermo Fisher (Director of Engineering, Infrastructure @ Handshake) shares the impact of mission & values alignment, supporting your team’s internal mobility & professional growth, plus interesting infrastructure challenges & actualizing values on the infra team. This episode serves as a great reminder of WHY we become engineering leaders - to empower our teams to become great leaders in tech. "The engineering team pivoted! Trashed OKRs! Trashed the roadmap... and said, 'We're going to build ...
Aug 24, 2021•31 min
This episode covers productivity practices to scale both your time & mind with Ashton Kutcher (Actor & Investor) & Ryan Petersen (CEO @ Flexport). They share their most essential productivity tools & systems, how to filter decisions & say NO to optimize your time, leverage your company’s culture to scale your time/mind. Plus energy audits, networking hacks, powerful questions, and more! ASHTON KUTCHER, ACTOR & INVESTOR Ashton’s career has spanned over many years with well-known projects on scree...
Aug 17, 2021•28 min
This episode covers effective strategies to help you “close” engineering candidates with Darian Shimy (VP of Engineering, Weebly @ Square). We share how to strategically approach closing throughout the interview process, how storytelling & vulnerability help you connect with candidates, how to communicate the value of your company/compensation & strategically navigate offer negotiations! DARIAN SHIMY, VP OF ENGINEERING, WEEBLY @ SQUARE As an engineering leader who scales teams and products, Dari...
Aug 12, 2021•31 min
This special feature covers strategies to lead an effective technical interview! Through live examples, we share your 3 main responsibilities, how to give clarity & guidance, set candidates at ease, create consistency & get the best from candidates in your technical interview with Lusen Mendel (Director of Developer Relations @ Karat) & Rohit Grover (Senior Interview Engineer & Mentor @ Karat). Lusen Mendel (they / them) is Director of Developer Relations at Karat, where they share interviewer b...
Aug 11, 2021•27 min
This ELC Hiring Summit special feature explores tactics & strategies to help you build powerful relationships & professional network! We cover the impact of vulnerability, why you should focus on “giving” first, how to break down power dynamics, prepare for important introductions & more with Dan Portillo (Managing Partner & Founder @ Sweat Equity Ventures) & Jim Cook (CFO @ Orbital Insight). DAN PORTILLO Dan is a former Talent Partner @ Greylock. Previously, he was VP of Success & Engagement at...
Aug 10, 2021•31 min
This ELC Hiring Summit special feature dives into compensation! We cover where you should start with your comp strategy, how to create consistency/transparency in your program, competing on comp/equity at the early stages, how to consider geography, and when you should bring in external support with Thanh Nguyen (Founder & CEO @ OpenComp) and Cyrus F. (GM/SVP @ Hatched Labs). THANH NGUYEN, FOUNDER & CEO @ OPENCOMP Thanh has spent the greater part of his decades-long career partnering with founde...
Aug 03, 2021•27 min
What IS engineering branding? What are the most effective things you can do to immediately improve your engineering brand & attract top talent? This special feature from the ELC Hiring Summit covers all things engineering branding & attracting top talent with Cosmin Nicolaescu (CTO @ Brex) Kris Rasmussen (VPE @ Figma) Brad Henrickson (Leadership Coach / former CTO @ Scoop Technologies) & Sam Wholley (Partner @ Lightspeed Venture Partners). SHOWNOTES What are the most important things you can do ...
Aug 03, 2021•25 min
This ELC Hiring Summit special feature covers building a diverse hiring pipeline! You’ll hear how to approach DE&I holistically & what success looks like beyond the metrics. Plus how to balance headcount demand with DE&I goals, hold execs/managers accountable & ideas for effective DEI programs & partnerships with Ragini Holloway (SVP People @ Affirm) and Gabe Westmaas (VPE @ Checkr). RAGINI HOLLOWAY, SVP PEOPLE @ AFFIRM Ragini is currently Senior Vice President of People at Affirm and is an advi...
Jul 27, 2021•30 min
This special feature from the ELC Hiring Summit covers optimizing and scaling your hiring process! You’ll learn signs that indicate it’s time to optimize/scale, tactics to create a consistent hiring bar, key metrics to measure efficiency, feedback loops & more with Catherine Miller (VPE @ Flatiron Health) Vinithra Varadharajan (Head of Platform Eng @ Airtable) & Keng He (Sr. Director of Eng @ LiveRamp). SHOWNOTES The current size and scale of Cat/Vinithra’s engineering teams + their current hiri...
Jul 27, 2021•29 min
This special feature from the ELC Hiring Summit covers everything sourcing engineering candidates! You’ll hear the latest sourcing trends, most effective sourcing tactics, how to get candidates attention, increase response rates to your outreach, & source senior engineers with Kah Seng Tay (GM & Eng @ Airtable) Shauna Geraghty (SVP, Head People & Ops @ Talkdesk) & Mike Pinkowsky (Head of Eng @ Gem) KAH SENG TAY - GM & Engineering @ Airtable SHAUNA GERAGHTY - SVP, Head People & Operations @ Talkd...
Jul 20, 2021•30 min
This special feature from the ELC Hiring Summit explores the current state of hiring and how the rise of remote work will affect sourcing engineering candidates, the interview process, and compensation with Bret Reckard (Talent Partner @ Sequoia), Maia Josebachvili (former Head of People @ Stripe), and Erica Lockheimer (VPE @ LinkedIn) BRET RECKARD - Talent Partner @ Sequoia Capital MAIA JOSEBACHVILI - Head of M&A and Investing (interim), former Head of People @ Stripe ERICA LOCKHEIMER - VP of E...
Jul 20, 2021•43 min
Melissa Binde, VP Engineering, Cloud @ Splunk, shares lessons from her time building Amazon Apollo. You’ll hear the origin story of Amazon Apollo, how to define the right problem, identify the right solution, and what makes technology endure 20+ years. Plus how to improve your engineering storytelling and pitch the right product features to the right stakeholders! "We were heavily influenced by an early project manager I worked with who called it, the 'JEDI principle' - You make just enough deci...
Jul 13, 2021•46 min
Sarah Clatterbuck, Sr. Director of Engineering, YouTube & Google Zurich Site Lead @ Google, shares the story of her transition as a site lead during the covid-19 pandemic. We cover her past experiences that helped prepare her for the role, what it was like bootstrapping a new team during a pandemic, re-introducing teams to in-person work, AND the story behind her 18-day staycation & its impact on team burnout. "You can't worry about pleasing everyone because there are many thousands of people th...
Jul 06, 2021•44 min
